Photo story: Islam in China — the Han Chinese (part I)

Hui people in Dongguan, Gansu Province

A Hui Muslim ending prayers with a dua in Dongguan Mosque, Gansu Province. A typical aspect of the Chinese mosque are the ‘short rugs’ so that the head will always touch the wooden floor when performing sujud

A Quran in a Hui Mosque

A modern Hui mosque being built. The minarets are in Arabian style, and the rest of the mosque is in Chinese style (somewhere near Lake Qinghai

Hui ladies sheltering from the sun in Xining (Qinghai Province)

Inside the Dongguan Mosque in Xining, the largest mosque in China by visitor numbers. Over 300,000 worshippers reportedly say Eid prayers in and around this mosque

Inside the Dongguan Mosque in Xining, the largest mosque in China by visitor numbers. Over 300,000 worshippers reportedly say Eid prayers in and around this mosque

Many Hui take classes in a madrasa (Muslim college). These friendly youngsters invited me for a glass of tea in their dormitory

The new mosque in Xining, at the centre of a large Muslim school funded by the local community

A Hui trader selling sheepskins in Xiahe (Gansu Province) a village with a mixed population of Tibetans, Han and Hui Chinese

A minaret in pagoda stylel in Xiahe (Gansu)

An old Hui mosque in Xiahe (Gansu)

Inside the Hui-moskee in Xiahe (Gansu)

Hui Chinese, Han Chinese, Tibetans and Tibetan monks living peacefully together in Xiahe

In X'ian, a historical Chinese capital a street is named after Muslims. One can try various (halal) Hui specialities by way of tourist attraction. These boys are making sweet nougat

The explicitly Chinese architecture of the great mosque in Xian

Prayer area in the great mosque in Xian

Worshippers leaving one of the oldest mosques in China, the Niujie Mosque in the Muslim district of Beijing after Friday prayers

The entrance gate to the Niujie Mosque

Hui being trained in Kung Fu in one of the oldest mosques in the world, and the oldest in China, Huaisheng Mosque in Guanzhou. The mosque was built 1300 years ago

One of the many Hui restaurants serving halal food, clearly recognisable by the Arabic sign "al mat'am al islami"

A Hui family sharing supper in their restaurant after the busy hours

One of the many Hui restaurants serving halal food, clearly recognisable by the Arabic sign "mat'amoe almoeslimien"

A number of elderly Hui taking Arabic class in one of the great mosques in Kunming (Yunan Province)

The oldest mosque in Kunming in the historical city centre that has seen a transformation over the last years

The oldest mosque in Kunming in the historical city centre is surrounded by restaurants that serve the halal version of many Chinese dishes

I took a sabbatical in april 2014 to travel for 13 months. I visited China twice, both for a month. The first time from west to east in the north of the country (Kashgar to Beijing), and the second time from east to west in the south of the country (Hong Kong to Kunming).

A trip to China reinforces the notion that the Islamic faith has reached all corners of the world. I could hardly believe my eyes; in almost every region of this enormous country Muslims were clearly visible in the streets. This incidentally makes travelling in China comfortable for Muslims as you will find halal restaurants just anywhere; a big relief in a country where pork is the dominant meat on the menu. With the exception of the odd village there is often a wide choice of halal restaurants.

However much the Chinese may differ from the rest of the world, especially language and culture-wise, that culture turns out to be reconcilable with Islam as an ideology. Hearing well-meaning elderly Chinese men recite the Quran struck me especially. Arabic is as foreign to them as Chinese is to us, it seems an impossible task. What would it have been like had the prophet been Chinese and we would have had to recite the Quran in Chinese, I wondered when listening to the Friday sermon in Mandarin.

Islam is an old acquaintance in China. A mere hundred years after the death of the prophet his message reached China through Arab merchants trading with China’s port cities. Later, Islam also seeped in through Central Asia, in the west of China. The religion spread rapidly through the various regions and the land even saw the emergence of autonomous Muslim states within today’s China’s borders. Without delving into the subject of Islam in China too deeply this photo report just seeks to illustrate how Islam is lived in the country and how the faith and local culture have become intertwined.

An estimated 20 to 30 million Muslims live in China, although statistics are often manipulated to fit propaganda purposes. There is a large number of ethnic minorities, with 56 officially recognized, living in China alongside the largest ethnical group, the Han Chinese, who make up 95% of the Chinese population and 91% of the total population. A small number of these minorities is predominantly Muslim, like the Turkic-speaking Uyghurs (see part 2). Another group, the Hui Chinese, is a recognised minority, but really consists of Han Chinese Muslims. These two communities, the Hui and the Uyghurs, are the largest Muslim groups in China, totalling an estimated 10 million and 9 million people respectively, although these numbers can be questioned. These two groups greatly differ from eachother, with religion and citizenship being the only common characteristics.